A fellow author I admire, advising newbie writers on starting out in M/M, told them to avoid controversy on their profiles and groups. Stick to romance and fun stuff. Stay away from politics.

That was solid advice, from a career standpoint. Our readers span a pretty wide political spectrum, and arguments can get heated. You will generally lose audience, not gain it, if you aren’t neutral or silent on topics that divide folks.

So at the time, I didn’t contradict that advice to the new writers, but I felt like I should’ve. And now I want to suggest that’s not a rule an author has to live by.

Because if we write— or in my opinion read— M/M or other queer stories, we can’t deny the impact of politics. Unless we write high fantasy or SciFi in a wholly different world, politics will deeply affect the characters we invent, and the real-life people whose lives we are mirroring.

LGBTQ folk— real or fictional— don’t have the option of “avoiding politics.” It is life-changing to them if laws are passed that impede their rights and safety, their access to health care or benefits or jobs or asylum, or whether they should be arrested or assaulted for the bathroom they walk into.

Clearly, in the texts of our stories, politics play a concrete and unavoidable role in world-building and character development.

That book content itself sometimes gets complaints. One of my books with a transgender pre-teen has reviews denouncing it as pro-trans propaganda. Which is fair enough. Yes, that book does aim to make readers see and understand and empathize with a trans kid, just like the trans kids that live in the real world and in some families I know. Empathizing with queer people, and reflecting the way their lives are relatable to those of straight cis people, is one of the saving graces of M/M romance as a genre.

Another review complained about a paranormal of mine that spoke disparagingly of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, taking “a 5 star book down to 3 stars”. They complained that in a paranormal, I had no need to even mention the queer-phobia of that law in the real world. (They then went on to show they agreed with the banning of queer content from schools.)

Sometimes it boggles my mind, that people can read and cheer for two men in love in one of my books, and yet agree that if those men had a child, a picture book showing that exact parental relationship should be banned from their child’s classroom.

So the books themselves can be the statement we make.

As for politics on my profile, or my blog or group?

I am a white, straight, cis woman, writing about queer lives, and making money from those stories. Yes, I have LGBTQ family, but I am very much privileged with regard to how society treats my identity. (Well, other than the woman part, but that’s another topic.)

Now, I also have other privileges. I have a day job. My writer income is not needed to keep a roof over my head. I also have good mental health and a safe home. Whatever my anxieties, they do not keep me from having the spoons to speak up online or the safe environment to do so.

Many authors and individuals do not have those privileges, and keeping quiet is necessary for their health and wellbeing. Their stories are their contribution to supporting and generating empathy for LGBTQ lives. That’s not wrong at all.

But for me, in my position of privilege, what excuse do I have, ethically, morally, to sell those stories and yet refuse to use my author platform to speak up in support of the people whose lives and histories I am appropriating? Why would it be it okay for me in particular to say maximizing my writer income is a reason to keep my author-persona mouth shut? Especially in moments like now, when the turn of a ballot can literally destroy lives.

So this is me, saying what I didn’t say in that discussion.

I don’t want to guilt trip anyone, or pressure anyone.

Using your author name and platform to speak up on political topics can harm your sales, and maybe your career, or worse if you write under your real name and identity. It may cause conflicts with people you value deeply.

For some authors and readers, staying out of the weeds of controversy is necessary to survival and health, mentally, physically, or financially.

But, new authors, don’t take “no politics” as a rule you can’t break. There are just a few solid rules for new authors (like “don’t respond to bad reviews.”) However using your platform for social or political statements is a choice.

And sometimes, that means speaking out on politics, trying to do what good we can with an audience far bigger than in our personal life, and accepting the consequences. Sometimes, speaking out is the thing that lets me sleep at night.

So the “no politics” rule is, like so many others for authors, one we break, if it feels right to us.

Make the choice that lets you feel good about yourself, your stories, your career, your mental health, and your author identity – whether that is careful silence, screaming headlines, or anything in between. Don’t let anyone push you into the limelight, but don’t let anyone convince you to silence your voice.

We are all out to make the world a better place, and there is no one way to do that. Choose your own.

Kaje Harper

Oct 2024